Power means for a cement discharge chute



Dec. 2, 1 969 ca. A. JACKOBOICE 3,481,440

POWER MEANS FOR A CEMENT DISCHARGE CHUTE Filed Aug. 8, 1967 2Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VEN TOR. 620255 4. J'ocrow/ae' Mia/aw Wig-ah 1969 e.A. JACKOBOICE 3,

POWER MEANS FOR A CEMENT DISCHARGE CHUTE Filed Aug. 8, 1967 2Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. 650865 A Warm/ex .s'e

United States Patent 3,481,440 POWER MEANS FOR A CEMENT DISCHARGE CHUTEGeorge A. Jackoboice, Grand Rapids, Mich., assignor to Monarch RoadMachinery Company, Grand Rapids,

Mich., a corporation of Michigan Filed Aug. 8, 1867, Ser. No. 659,105Int. Cl. B65g 11/00 US. Cl. 193-10 14 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSUREThis disclosure relates to a dispensing chute for a cement mixing truckwherein the chute has power means to rotate the chute about asubstantially vertical axis and power means to raise or lower thedispensing end of the chute.

The power means for the horizontal movement of the chute comprises apair of vertically disposed hydraulic cylinders having a reciprocatablerod attached to links of one end of an interlocking parallelogramstructure which is also connected at that same end to a fixed portion ofthe cylinder supporting block such that the reciprocation of thecylinder rod causes extension and contraction of the parallelogramstructure. At the outer end, the parallelogram structure is attached toa supporting member and through a connecting link is attached to thechute.

This invention relates to dispensing chutes for cement trucks and powermeans therefor. In one of its aspects it relates to a power means forrotating a dispensing chute for a cement truck about a substantiallyvertical axis.

Ready mix cement trucks are conventionally provided with dispensingchutes which are rotatable about a substantially vertical axis. Most ofthese trucks are provided with a power means for raising and loweringthe end of the dispensing chute. Generally, the chute is horizontallyswingable by hand. In larger operations, the chute is extended andbecomes quite heavy when filled with cement. It then becomes difiicultto move by hand. In any case, the horizontal rotation of the chute israther difiicult when the chute is filled with cement, such as duringthe dispensing operation. This problem becomes particularly severe whenthe truck is parked on an incline such that the chute tends to rotate onits own toward the bottom of the incline. In this situation the chutemust be held in position and, in some cases, moved up the incline to adilierent position.

I have now devised a horizontal power rotating system for a cementchute, which system employs hydraulic cylinders and a plurality ofinterlocking links forming a parallelogram structure. By the use of theinvention, the dispensing chute can be horizontally movable, generallyrotatable about a substantially vertical axis and can be held in arelatively constant horizontal position regardless of the pitch of thetruck.

By various aspects of this invention, one or more of the following, orother objects, can be obtained.

It is an object of this invention to provide a power means to rotate adispensing chute about a generally vertical axis.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a means to work incombination with a second power means for positioning a dispensing and acement dispensing truck at any given point in a generally verticalplane.

It is a still further object of this invention to maintain a dispensingchute at a suitable position relative to a vertical axis regardless ofthe position of the truck with relation to the ground.

3,481,440 Patented Dec. 2, 1969 It is yet another object of thisinvention to provide a hydraulic system for positioning an end of adispensing chute along an arcuate path in a plane substantially parallelto the base of the truck and spaced a distance from a substantiallyvertical axis about which an end of the chute can rotate.

Other aspects, objects, and the several advantages of this invention areapparent to one skilled in the art from a study of this disclosure, thedrawings, and the appended claims.

According to the invention, there is provided a discharge chute for acement mixing truck having a power means attached to the truck and tothe chute for rotating the dispensing end of the chute about asubstantially vertical axis or an axis which is substantiallyperpendicular to the base of the truck. Preferably, the power means arehydraulic and comprise a pair of horizontally spaced hydraulic cylindersrotatably attached to the base of the truck and operably connected tohorizontal extension means, such as a plurality of interconnected links,forming a plurality of interconnected parallelograms. The hydrauliccylinders are so actuated that one is extended while the other isretracted. The ends of the parallelogram structures are connected to thedispensing chute.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanyingdrawing which show an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the invention as applied to a dispensingchute from a cement mixing truck;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged and more detailed perspective view of theembodiment schematically shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top view of the structure shown in FIG. 2 and generallytaken along lines IIIIII of FIG. 4;

FIG. 4 is an end view of the structure shown in FIGS. 2 and 3;

FIG. 5 is a close-up view of a hydraulic cylinder employed in theinvention shown in FIGS. 1 through 4, and its connection to theparallelogram structure;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged, detailed view of the means for attaching thesupporting structure for the parallelogram structure to the truck andits relationship to the power means for raising and lowering thedispensing chute; and

FIG. 7 is a close-up, enlarged view of the connection of the chute tothe means for moving the chute horizontally and vertically.

Referring now to the drawings, a cement truck shown in phantom lines,and generally designated as 2 has a dispensing tray 6 and a dispensingchute 4.. Support member 16 is attached to one end of the dispensingchute and is rotatable about a pin on block 14, which in turn, issupported by members 8, 10, and 12, all of which members are rigidlyattached to the rear portion of the truck. A hydraulic cylinder 18having an extension rod 26 is attached to the dispensing end of chute 4through bracket 20 and pin 23. The other end of the hydraulic cylinder18 is attached to collar 28 through pin 30. The collar 28 is attached toa universal joint comprising U-shaped members 32 and 38, which areattached together through pins 30, collar 34, and pins 40. Support post42 is rigidly attached to the back of the truck through plate 44.

According to the invention, means are provided to swing the dispensingend of chute 4 about a generally vertical axis, -i.e., through point 14.These power means comprise a pair of vertically disposed, hydrauliccylinders and 90" which are rotatable about a vertical axis on platform3 as indicated by the arrows in FIG. 3. The platform 3 is rigidlyattached to the back of the cement truck. Each hydraulic cylinder can beattached to the platform by a pin (not shown) beneath each cylinder orother suitable rotatable coupling. Each hydraulic cylinder has ancxtendible rod 86 and 86' (see FIGS. 2 and 5) which at the end thereofis connected through pin 88 to links 82 and 84. These links are attachedto the end of a parallelogram structure defined by a plurality of interlocking links 22 which are secured together by pins 23. At eachhydraulic cylinder, a double pair of parallelogram structures areattached to either side of the hydraulic cylinder. The bottom portion ofthe parallelogram structure near the truck is attached to the support 3for the cylinder through pin 92. Thus, the parallelogram structure isrotatable about the hydraulic cylinders and rotates as each cylinderrotates.

At 76, a pair of bars 77 and 79 is provided b tween each side of theparallelogram structure extending out from the hydraulic cylinder. Asingle line of interlocking links 22 is then provided out to connectingmember 62 on supporting bars 46 and 48. Each side of the parallelogramstructure is supported at the outer portion thereof by a pair of beams46 and 48, which are attached through U-shaped bracket 50, pin 52,collar 54, support member 56, and plate 58 to the back of the truck. Ascan be seen in FIG. 6, the hydraulic cylinder 18 is positioned betweenthe beams 46 and 48.

Each of the parallelogram structures is attached to the beams 46 and 48through a horizontally extending pin 62, pin 72, and U-shaped collar 70.

Pin 62 is also rotatably attached to a pair of parallel support members60, inside of beams 46 and 48. The members 60 are rotatably attached atthe other end thereof to a pair of support members 64, which in turn arerotatably attached to the dispensing end of the chute through a bracket66 and a pin '68 (see FIG. 7). As can be seen from FIG. 7, the upperportion of rod 26 extends between the parallel members 64 and attachesthrough pin 21 and support plate 20 to the dispensing end of chute 4.

In operation, the hydraulic cylinder 18 can be actuated to extend rod 26to thereby raise or lower the dispensing end of chute 4. When it isdesirable to move the dispensing end of chute 4 in a generallyhorizontal plane (i.e. one that is substantially parallel to the base ofthe truck), then hydraulic cylinders 90 and 90' are actuated to move theparallelogram structure 22 and 24. The hydraulic cylinders are connectedin a control circuit that rod 86 on cylinder 90 will be extended whilerod 86 on cylinder 90 will be retracted. The retraction of rod 86' (i.e.the movement downwardly of rod 86') will cause members 82' to movedownwardly, and thus force the ends of the parallelogram closertogether, thereby expanding in a horizontal direction the parallelogramstructure 24.

On the other hand, rod 86 of cylinder 90 will be extended upwardly,thereby forcing the ends of the parallelogram structure 22 at thehydraulic cylinder 90 away from each other, which in turn, will retractthe parallelogram structure 22. This combination of action between eachparallelogram structure will cause the dispensing end of the cylinder tomove to the left as seen in FIGS. 3 and 4. r The placement of thehydraulic cylinder 18 and rod 26 between supporting members 46 and 48and between the connecting links 64 insures a relatively rigid structurefor rotating the dispensing end of chute 4 about a generally verticalaxis. It is to be emphasized that, whereas the embodiment of theinvention shown in the drawing employs a hydraulic cylinder with anextensible rod 26 to raise and lower the dispensing end of chute 4, suchan arrangement for the employment of the raising and lowering means isnot essential to the invention. Thus, the invention could be employedwithout the use of cylinder 18 and rod 26.

Reasonable variation and modification are possible within the scope ofthe foregoing disclosure, the drawings, and the appended claims to theinvention without departing from the spirit thereof.

I claim:

1. In a discharge chute for a cement mixing truck comprising power meansattached to said truck and to said chute for rotating said chute about asubstantially vertical axis, the improvement in said power m anscomprising a pair of horizontally spaced, hydraulic cylinders on eitherside of said truck, each cylinder operably connected to a horizontalextension means, such that reciprocation of said hydraulic cylindersextends and contracts said horizontal extension means, each of the saidextension means being operably connected to such chute at a point spacedfrom the axis of rotation of said chute, and means are further providedto actuate said hydraulic cylinders such that expansion of one of saidhorizontal means causes the contraction of the other of said expansionmeans, thereby rotating said chute about said substantially verticalaxis.

2. A discharge chute according to claim 1, wherein said expansion m anscomprises a plurality of interconnected links forming an interlockingparallelogram structure, one end link of said structure at one endthereof is attached to one end of a vertically disposed, reciprocable,hydraulic cylinder, and another link at said one end is attached to avertically fixed point on said truck, whereby extension of said cylindercauses contraction of said parallelogram structure and retraction ofsaid cylinder causes extension of said parallelogram structure.

3. A dispensing chute according to claim 2, wherein said parallelogramstructure at one end thereof comprises two groups of interlockingparallelogram structures, each attached to either side of saidvertically disposed hydraulic cylinder.

4. A discharge chute according to claim 1, wherein there is furtherprovided horizontal support means for said horizontal extension means,said horizontal support means being centrally located at each of saidhorizontal extension means and attached to said truck, said supportmeans rotatable about a substantially vertical axis, said support meansbeing attached to each of said extension means at an end thereof spacedfrom said truck.

5. A discharge chute according to claim 4, wherein said horizontalextension means is rotatably attached to said support means to permitrotation of said support means, with respect to said extension meansabout a substantially vertical axis.

6. A discharged chute according to claim 4, wherein there is furtherprovided a means to raise or lower the outer end of said dischargechute, and vertical extension means are provided on the outer end ofsaid support means for connecting said rotatable support means with thedischarge end of said discharge chute, whereby vertical and horizontalmovement of said outer end of said chute is permitted.

7. A discharge chute according to claim 6, wherein said power means forraising and lowering said discharge end extends from said truck betweensupport arms of said support means and is operably connected to saidouter end of said chute through a pair of parallel arms of said verticalextension means to said discharge end of said chute.

8. A discharge chute according to claim 7, wherein said verticallyextendible means comprises a first pair of parallel arms spaced fromeach other and rotatably connected at one end to the outer end of saidsupport means, and at the other end to a second pair of spaced parallelarms, said second pair of parallel arms being rotatably attached to theother end thereof to said chute.

9. A dispensing chute according to claim 1, wherein said hydrauliccylinders are rotatable about a substantially vertical axis on saidtruck base.

10. A power means for a cement discharge chute comprising:

(A) first and second linear horizontal extension means connected at oneend thereof,

(B) means at said one end for connecting said one end to said cementdischarge chute,

(C) separate power means attached to said first and second horizontalextension means adapted to actuate extension of one of said extensionmeans and contraction of the other of said extension means,

(D) means for attaching each of said first and second horizontalextension means to a rear portion of a cement mixing truck at pointsspaced from each other.

11. A power means according to claim 10, wherein said power meanscomprises first and second hydraulic cylinders attached to said firstand second extension means, respectively.

12. A power means according to claim 11, wherein said extension meanscomprises a plurality of interconnected links forming an interlockingparallelogram structure, one end link of said structure at the other endfrom said one end is attached to an end of one of said hydrauliccylinders, and another link at said other end of said parallelogramstructure is attached to another end of said one hydraulic cylinder,whereby the reciprocation of said hydraulic cylinder causes extensionand contraction of said parallelogram structure.

13. A power means according to claim 10, wherein said means of (B)comprises a vertically extendi'ble linkage adapted to permit verticalmovement of said cement chute, relative to said first and secondhorizontal extension means.

14. A power means according to claim 10, wherein said means of (D)comprises a rotatable coupling which attached to said power means of(C).

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,672,966 3/1954 Gerst 193l63,019,879 2/1962 Wenschlag 193--16 3,367,636 2/1968 Duecy 193----16ANDRES H. NIELSEN, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. l93-16

